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Somehow became my favourite show of the year
I know why people don't love the show, it's a "dark romance" and a lot of the stuff that the ML (Ming) does is pretty beyond the pale. However, I knew that going in so I wasn't really expecting this to be a fun/lighthearted show. Expectations are kind of everything here.The book is based on a danmei novel, 职业替身 or Professional Body Double by Shui Qian Cheng. If you look at the tags on the NovelUpdates page you'll have a pretty good idea of what you're getting into. https://www.novelupdates.com/series/professional-body-double/ (And the novel is more challenging than the show so be warned).
This isn't usually a genre I go in for, but I have to admit I got completely hooked. The acting is incredibly good, the series is well-produced, the pacing is great, and the chemistry between the two leads is fantastic. While the plot is a little over the top in some ways, it rarely felt cheesy or overdone, and I think the team handled the localization and adaptation incredibly well.
If you don't like heavy angst you will not have a good time here, if you need characters to have extensive redemption arcs, you probably will not have a good time here. However, if you enjoy a heavy amount of drama, suffering, and crying, you're in the right place. There are lighter moments, and a lot of beautiful ones too, it was all worth it to me.
We can have a productive conversation about the types of tropes that are common in BL and romance generally, and the harm that they can cause, however, I think dismissing it out of hand because it has upsetting elements doesn't contribute to that discussion. If you don't like it that's very understandable, it's a lot, but I think it's a show with a lot to offer for those who want to engage with it while understanding what it is.
-- Spoilers Below--
More extensive thoughts:
Yes Ming absolutely sucks, he's possessive, self-centered, and demanding. However, he is also capable of growth and change, he's never going to be perfect (he's always going to be a spoiled richboy), but it's clear that he understands the mistakes he made when he was younger and regrets them deeply. Some people don't think he was redeemed "enough", but the point is that Joe forgives him, and they're letting go of the past and moving forward with the expectation that they can do better this time.
I think people also get really frustrated at Joe's character. He's incredibly selfless and forgiving, he rarely puts himself first, and he doesn't seem to know how to let go of this guy who hurt him so badly. But all of those things are important parts of his character. It's not as if he's some complete doormat, he's able to stand up for himself in most situations where he knows he's been wronged, he gets angry, he pushes back. But at his core he is just a very selfless and kind person, and that doesn't change even in his second life. He also truly, deeply, loves Ming. Maybe he should move on, but at this point he's not going to, he has what he's always wanted, which is for Ming to love him as much as he did, to have someone waiting for him at home.
I thought the characters were all so compelling and interesting, it was so hard to stop watching, or wait for the next episode. I truly fell in love with this series despite everything. It was all about ending the cycles of revenge and hate and despair, growing and becoming better together. I may be reading into it quite a lot, but I'm grateful this show exists <3
I said this elsewhere, but forgiveness is not about "deserving" it, that's not the point. Ming and Joe are choosing to move on, to let go of the past and stop repeating the cycle. Eternal punishment is pointless, and endless hatred and revenge isn't the point of the series.
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Pretty Dissappointing
Man this really didn't do much for me. After the first two episodes this show became a bit of a let down and I really struggled to enjoy it at all. I was hoping it'd improve as I kept going, but unfortunately I was left disappointed. I'm all for slightly silly premises and fun romance tropes, but the execution left me pretty bored.I'll start with what I liked because I don't love being super negative, but it's a short list.
I enjoyed the initial progression of Tew and Guy's relationship, they seemed like they were actually becoming friends, and it was nice to see characters develop a friendship first. I also liked the moments when Guy stood up for himself and began to try to have a life outside of Wahl, it was a nice message and well-handled.
The overall concept of online friendships developing into full relationships was nice too, and I liked that the gaming group continued to return to the story.
Unfortunately, that's pretty much all I liked.
Honestly, my two biggest issues were the plot and the production quality. While the general idea of the story is not bad, and had some interesting elements, the execution was at best, lack-luster, and at worst actively grating. The ending especially felt like a really cheap way to generate more drama the villain's motivations were pretty weak and the way everything played out was somewhat nonsensical. It was really just boring to watch, which is sometimes worse than being actively terrible.
I simply couldn't make myself care about any of the characters, including the main couple. Their romantic development left a lot to be desired for me and the acting didn't move me at all. Tew never explained himself and faced very little consequences for his actions, while Guy just had 0 personality. He was a loner who played games and was in love with either his friend or his boyfriend, that's it. I did like how he navigated his feelings towards Wahl, and how he wanted to become a person outside of him, but that was the only time I was really interested in him as a character. Tew's backstory was... a lot, but I could've overlooked it if the rest of the show had been stronger. There were also like 0 repercussions for him lying about really serious stuff or the breakup, it was just all magically fixed, Guy is better than me I guess because that would've given me major trust issues. At least the initial lying about his background plot had some teeth but that was pretty much it. Their chemistry was okay, better in some moments then others, but it often didn't really feel like they were that into each other.
As for the side characters... none of them were particularly interesting and I didn't care about them much at all. Wahl kind of sucked and while he did improve by the end I just couldn't make myself like him much, which is too bad because I'm usually a huge side character guy. Guy's gaming crew was alright and had potential, but their lack of depth made them pretty uninteresting. The less we talk about Kenji the better.
As for the production quality, there are ways to shoot a show cheaply and still have it look clean and polished, this show misses the mark entirely. Lighting is not consistent from scene to scene, or even within scenes. Sometimes two shots side-by-side will have completely different lighting and colouring. It's incredibly jarring and makes the show feel messy and low-quality. The special effects were... nothing to write home about, and the makeup and hair were rough sometimes as well. Although I will say the leads usually looked good (aside from Tew's scars, I literally don't want to talk about those). The audio was pretty rough as well, very inconsistent, often muffled or way too quiet. There were some scenes that could've been easily dubbed over to fix this as well and they just, weren't. I'm sure the production team wanted to make a competent show here, but it felt like it was either rushed or lazy and with all the above issues it was just unpleasant to watch.
Overall, even if you're just looking for something easy and a little fun to watch, this isn't it. At best, you'll be mildly bored for about 8 hours.
Bad shows are one thing, sometimes it's fun to watch super trashy shows and yell at the characters, I'll watch shows even if they make me mad because they're entertaining enough to get me through. I'll take trashy romance and a nonsensical plot over boredom any day.
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If you're someone like me who likes interpersonal drama and a focus on romance you will likely enjoy Between Us. The plot isn't anything crazy but the show is well-paced and written, giving the lead couple a lot of time to grow into their relationship and overcome their difficulties. For some it may be a little slow, so if you're someone that prefers a lot of action and a quick plot this probably won't be for you, while no specific conflict is dragged out too long, the show has a very slow methodical pace that can turn a lot of people off. I'm happy with either so it worked quite well for me.
The lead actors have done a fantastic job, their characters work together so well and I found their relationship really compelling. The scene in episode 11 was so perfect and they really pulled out all the stops to tug on your heartstrings. I like how much they check in with each other, and how comfortable they are with each other even early on.
I watched UWMA right before and while I liked it well enough, this show was a much more enjoyable experience for me. I was really happy to see many of the characters again, especially since the friendships were one of my favourite parts of the original.
There were a few things that I didn't enjoy about the show, but they were minor enough that they didn't tank my enjoyment. IMO the biggest issue was the number of couples, while I liked all of them, the show was just trying to do a little too much and as a result the side couples ended up feeling a little rushed (particularly Waan and Tul) or underdeveloped, and having so many interruptions to the main story for so many short scenes affected the flow and pacing. I'd hate to cut any of them because I thought they all had interesting storylines and were all terribly sweet, but I think they should have removed at least one.
There were also some times (this happened with UWMA too but it was less egregious here) where they used a few too many flashbacks. I think it made sense for Team's nightmares, since it gets you into his headspace but sometimes it felt like a little much.
All that said I did really enjoy this drama and I'll definitely be rewatching quite a few bits of it. It was exactly what I was hoping it would be ^^!
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Please Stop Yelling At Fiat
Okay so I have a lot of opinions, let me preface this by saying I have not watched TharnType2 (just not interested) and mostly watched this because it was available on Viki and I liked the actors.The Good:
✅ Good chemistry with both couples
✅ Solid acting
✅ Decent production
✅ Some enjoyable characters
The Bad:
❌Voyeuristic trauma that's poorly resolved
❌ Somewhat thin and unbalanced plot
❌ Frustrating communication
With that said, overall this was fine, but I think with just a little better writing this could have been a much better show.
Regarding what I liked, the acting was solid from all the main cast (although a few moments felt a little over-acted or odd), the presentation was decent, and I liked the characters quite a bit. The supporting cast was fun and had some good moments, I always enjoy it when the characters have actual friends, although I would've liked to see them hang out and talk about anything that wasn't the relationships sometimes. The pacing was pretty solid, even if I didn't love every plot, they didn't get dragged out so long that I got mad.
The main characters have good chemistry and I easily believed that they actually liked each other. When Leo wasn't annoying me I thought he was really sweet, the birthday surprise was a nice touch. Though their relationship isn't perfect and has some slightly concerning undertones, they both seem comfortable and happy with each other and okay with each other's more difficult traits.
Also I loved Fiat and he can do no wrong in my eyes but we'll get to that.
My main plot issues were that sensitive subjects were not handled with appropriate care, and the whole show felt pretty lopsided. Fiat has some pretty distressing plots centering around abuse that has happened to him, and they were not handled well imo. While his family situation was presented as a very serious scenario, everyone got forgiven super quickly so that it could get wrapped up nicely and the actors didn't have to come back. I think things could have been left a little more ambiguous to allow for some more nuance. I'm still so mad at his dad lol, like, you could've protected him without being so awful that he thought you hated him for like 15 years, he should have apologized more. You could allow for some hope that they'll be able to have a positive relationship one day rather than everything being forgiven in an instant.
Speaking of people I'm mad at, Leo did frustrate me a lot. I liked him but he really suffered from perfect ML syndrome and it got grating, especially since he wasn't perfect and everyone acted like he was. He handled a number of serious situations very poorly and it was barely addressed. The whole series gives this impression that Fiat sucks and he needs to become a better person, and while he has made mistakes it really feels super one-sided. Even when he tries to be mature and reasonable he gets pretty much no credit. The scene after the bar made me so angry lmao, I can't believe they let Leo just get away with all of that after Fiat was trying so hard..... I think Fiat should've keyed someone's car but I'm clearly biased, sorry for liking men pretty men that cry a lot.
If the show had focused less on trauma-voyeurism and more on each character's personal issues I think I would have enjoyed it quite a bit more. Give Leo a plot where he's actually called out for being unreasonable or has something in his past he needs to deal with, have someone yell at him for once or let him face Any consequences ever damn......
Overall I'm not mad I watched the whole show, but I don't think I'd rewatch basically any of it. While there are some nice moments, they're too intertwined with a frustrating plot.
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So I've got mixed feelings
I'll start out with the things I really enjoyed about this series.Firstly, the side characters were delightful and their actors all did a fantastic job. I appreciated how much everyone felt like actual friends/family and that they got to have scenes together that didn't necessarily have anything to do with the main romance. It feels a little rare to get to see such a well fleshed-out friend group, not just people who you're told are friends. While I'm not personally a fan of the whole "female friend is into BL" trope, it wasn't handled terribly and I really enjoyed Manow and I was glad that the characters actually hung out with women sometimes lol.
I enjoyed the flashback scenes (for the most part) and thought In and Korn had a compelling and believable relationship. I think their story was handled very well, as were the heavier topics (although it did feel a tiny bit victim-blamey at the end, it was mild enough that I can let it go). It's hard to depict these events sensitively and I think they did a pretty good job.
As others have mentioned I also liked how they handled the differences between the characters in the past and future, I liked how different they were and how their personalities were shaped by their difficulties in their past lives. I'm also glad they addressed the concern that their past lives were the only thing keeping them together, though I think that could've been handled better, Pharm was being very reasonable IMO, even if it was due to his anxiety I think he had a point.
As for what I liked less... I really just did not buy Dean and Pharm as a couple at all unfortunately. Before they started dating it wasn't too bad, but once they were actually together... I get that Pharm didn't want to rush into things but it was handled in a way that made me feel really uncomfortable, it always seemed like Dean was pushing him further than he wanted to go and he didn't get to assert his boundaries. It just never seemed like he really wanted Dean to be kissing or touching him at all, which could have been a really interesting conflict if it had been handled better but in the end it just wasn't and because Pharm looks so much younger than Dean it made it feel a little gross. This was honestly a major issue for me and it really brought down the rest of the show because I found it difficult to enjoy most of their scenes together (which is of course 90% of the show).
Regarding the plot, I thought it was interesting, just slow. I don't mind a thinner plot in romance, character-driven stuff can be very fun! But it really started to drag, especially as I had figured out the plot twists episodes before the characters did, it really started to lag in the second half and I started to get a bit bored. The whole thing could've been a few episodes shorter if they'd tightened it up a bit and not repeated flashbacks so many times and I think that would've helped. It did a disservice to what otherwise could've been a really solid story, I really like a lot of the ideas but the execution could've been better.
I will also say, the music challenged me, it was always a weird volume and felt like it was interrupting a lot of the scenes and it got kind of annoying. The songs were fine it was just the way they were used.
Overall I don't regret watching it, and I had a decent time with it, but I wish it had lived up to more of its promise.
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